A Southland woman who fears she may have breast cancer is frustrated after waiting more than four months to get a mammogram appointment at Southland Hospital.

She now has an appointment to be reviewed in clinic but is still waiting on a mammogram appointment.

Sue Hazlett, whose mother had a double mastectomy and whose grandmother and cousin died of breast cancer, visited her doctor earlier this year after noticing abnormal swelling in her right breast.

Her doctor sent a referral for a mammogram to Southland Hospital on March 5.

When she did not hear back about an appointment, Mrs Hazlett said she contacted the hospital more than once and was told staff had not received her referral.

Her doctor sent another semi-urgent referral to the hospital on June 5, and Mrs Hazlett said she was told an appointment would be within four weeks.

However, six weeks later, she has still not had an appointment, her breast is still swollen and she is growing increasingly frustrated, she said.

"All we want is a mammogram, an appointment just to make sure that what's going on is nothing. Because if it's nothing, sweet. But if it's something, it's grown."

She was also concerned other women were being made to wait too long for mammograms, and feared if they did not have a family history of the disease they would not question the process until it was too late.

Mrs Hazlett's mother, Lee Roberts, had a double mastectomy 21 years ago and said the only reason she was still alive was because her cancer had been detected early.

She was "worried sick" that her daughter was facing the same situation, and was now being forced to wait.